US rotorcraft plans emerge

Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC

The US military and industry have begun to grapple with the definition of the future Joint Transport Rotorcraft (JTR) as they try to reconcile requirements for heavier lift capability with the promise of new technology and available funding.

The US Army recently hosted its first JTR integrated concept team meeting at Fort Rucker, Alabama, as an initial step towards defining a requirement. JTR will replace the army's Boeing CH-47F and US Marine Corps' Sikorsky CH-53E heavylift helicopters.

JTR studies have focused on carrying a nominal 12,200kg (26,900lb) payload over a 500km (270nm) radius. This is set to increase in the wake of US Army chief-of-staff Gen Eric Shinseki's recent call for lighter divisions equipped with wheeled armoured vehicles.

Dr Michael Scully of the US Army's Aeroflightdynamics Directorate (AFDD) says the JTR should be able to carry the future wheeled combat vehicle which has been designed to fit inside the Lockheed Martin C-130.

Notable issues - regardless of whether JTR is a conventional helicopter, tiltrotor or tiltwing - include the operational range, shipboard operations requirements and programme timing and costs.

A JTR demonstrator is pencilled in for fiscal year 2006, while related rotor demonstrations are planned earlier, focusing on active-blade control and variable geometry. A major bearing on the timing of the JTR programme will be the availability of more efficient technology to cut development, production and operating costs.

Studies indicate that delaying the JTR until FY2010 would produce a tiltrotor or helicopter half the gross weight and cost of a comparable development launched today. The intervening period will produce even larger reductions in fuel consumption, increased power-to-weight ratios and lighter structures than would be available in 2005, suggests the AFDD.

Unless these ambitious goals are achieved many in the industry believe the army will be unable to afford anything more than another uprated CH-47. Based on the AFDD's estimated $130 million flyaway cost for an 87.4t tiltrotor and a 400-aircraft requirement, "JTR would cost more than the $45 billion capitalisation of the entire army aviation fleet," calculates an industry observer.

Source: Flight International